


Complicated

by Hanari502



Category: Trigun
Genre: F/M, First Dates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-03 01:16:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12738084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hanari502/pseuds/Hanari502
Summary: Go to one dinner he said. It would be a normal night out, he said.He'd pay for it, he said.Meryl was starting to regret listening to everything Vash said.





	Complicated

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short ficlet I'm doing for my friend Bechnokid as an art trade. Just two precious babies being dumb and having crushes and whatnot.
> 
> Takes place after episode 13 in the anime.

Why couldn't anything ever be easy with this guy?

It was supposed to be dinner. Just a normal average everyday dinner, but _no_ , Meryl had to go to dinner with the most wanted man on the entire planet of Gunsmoke.

Go to one dinner he said. It would be a normal night out, he said. 

He'd pay for it, he said.

Meryl was starting to regret listening to everything Vash said.

Not even ten minutes after they started eating did someone come up to antagonize them, as is usual when walking around with a man with a $60,000,000,000 bounty on his head.

"Hey." The man said. Light skin, darker hair, missing several teeth. Clothes typical and forgettable. He slammed his hand down on the table, right between their plates. Bad manners. "Ain't you that outlaw with'n the big bounty? The Stampede guy?"

Vash, of course not wanting to incite anything, replied as gentlemanly as he could. He flashed him a smile, the one Meryl knew to be fake and reassuring. "I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about."

The man slammed his fist down on the table again, nearly knocking over one of the water glasses. "Don't play coy with me! I heard about you an' all the wicked stuff you do. There's a pretty bounty on yer head, y'might as well jus' hand yerself over!"

"Excuse me." Meryl said, standing up and glaring at the man. Her small stature made the threat less than effective. "But you're interrupting our dinner."

The man eyed her warily, like a tiger eyeing a dead zebra. There was a disgusting hunger in his eyes and Meryl hated it. "How's about you'n me make off with this bounty and I'll buy ya all th'dinner ya like!"

Vash, easygoing as ever and more than used to these situations, huffed. He seemed annoyed. He usually didn't get annoyed, just anxious.

"Y'know, it's rude to hit on another man's date." He said, standing up. "I don't want to cause any trouble but we were having a good time until you came along."

The man squared up, clearly not intimidated by Vash's height or his title. "If'n yer so upset, why don'tcha do somethin' about it _Stampede_."

Meryl would have told him off, possibly even shoved a gun in his face in an attempt at intimidation, but as it was she was frozen.

Date.

He called it a _date_.

"I don't think that's a good idea buddy." Vash said, stepping around the other side of the table, away from the food. "I really don't wanna cause any trouble."

The man scoffed and moved his hand to his hip. "Too bad, 'cause ya found it!"

Before he could pull the gun out of his holster, Vash had punched him in the face. It took Meryl all of two seconds to realize what he did, and then another to realize that her hand was being pulled up from her side. The rest of her body followed as Vash made a quick escape. She snapped back to reality as soon as they started running.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" She tried to keep up with his long steps but his leg were so much longer than hers. "Where are we going?!" 

"Somewhere safer!" Was his quick reply. He pulled her out the back door of the restaurant, angering the chefs and apologizing to them as they blasted through. "I don't know if you noticed but that guy had a few buddies in the place with him."

She raised an eyebrow. "He did?"

As soon as the words left her mouth a gang of 6 or so men burst through the back door behind them. 

She lost sight of them as they rounded a corner.

"Yeah I'm surprised that you didn't notice!" His tone was light and jovial, as if it were a joke to him. "Usually you're pretty quick on things like that, but you seemed distracted so, I figured it would be best to run. Oh! In here!"

Vash quickly pulls the both of them into a building, abandoned by the looks of it. No lights, no sound something from any of the rooms. Though, from what Meryl can immediately see, it looks like it was lived in once. There's a couch and a television set, and a kitchen that once could have been nice but was now littered in cobwebs and dust. The clock on the wall was cracked and skewed.

"We should be okay in here." He says, also taking in the empty house, though with less observant eyes. "But just in case."

 With a swift tug they're across the room, Vash opening a door and quickly maneuvering the two of them inside it.

And, y'know, if it were any normal room, like a bedroom or a den, Meryl would have been perfectly fine with it. She would have been perfectly fine with everything if that man had just stayed out of their business and didn't have six friends with him. She would have been fine even if Vash hadn't said that they were on a date and then whisked them away into a random empty house. She would have been fine!!!

This whole situation left her increasingly not fine.

Which brings her to her current scenario.

Vash didn't pull them into a regular room.

He pulled them into a closet.

"Are you out of your mind!" she yells as soon as the door closed.

"Ssssh." He pulls a finger over his lips. His tone is a half whisper. "If you're loud they'll hear us. It's best to lay low right now."

She sighs. "Why does this keep happening. Why do these things always keep happening to you? You don't even do anything to instigate and this kind of thing happens far too often."

"Dunno." He shrugs, she thinks. If he doesn't she can feel him shrugging. It's dark. "Maybe they're jealous of my incredibly good looks!"

"D-don't joke about this!" She bangs a fist on his chest, because it was eye level. Damn his height. "Doesn't it bother you? Having to run all the time?"

He thinks for a moment, humming exaggeratedly as he did. "Not really. If I run away, now I get to run away with you!"

Meryl swears her heart stopps for a fraction of a second, and then reset as she hears voices outside. On instinct, she moves her hand up to clamp over Vash's mouth, before he can say anything else loud or stupid. Mostly stupid. It strains her slightly. Why did he have to be so much taller than her.

"They couldn't have gone far. Search the houses!"

Meryl feels chills up her spine as theirs is the first one to be searched. Her breathing is controlled, if quick, as the men search the house. They pointedly avoid their closet, though. Could it be that it seemed too small for them to consider looking in? Could Vash's quick thinking have been right?

"They're not here, boss."

"To th' next one then. I wanna see that man's head on a plate by th'end a the day!"

 She almost holds her breath as she hears the men's footsteps filter out of the house. If they were going to be searching the streets, they couldn't leave the safety of their current house yet.

"You look like you're struggling." 

She looks up to see Vash grinning a smug smile at her. At this point her eyes have adjusted to the dark, and her hand is no longer covering his mouth.

She pulls her arm down. "Well I wouldn't have to struggle if you weren't so tall!"

"Oh so now my _height_ is a problem?" He's incredulous, as if it's an actual insult. "You've never complained about it before!"

"I've never had to!" She stamps her foot. "We were hired to watch over you and make sure you didn't get into trouble, and everywhere we go trouble finds you! You're like a bad luck magnet, honestly! It's bad enough that I have to worry about Millie getting injured on the job, but having to worry about you too is too much!"

He blinks. "You worry about me?"

"That's not the point!" She's upset now. Not angry just....upset. "The point is that this happens too much, and half the time you act as if you don't even care! You're so aloof it's infuriating!"

He tilts his head, bringing a hand up to his chin. "Hmm. Well, if my height is a problem, that can be fixed."

"I'm not talking abou-"

She's caught off guard as one of Vash's arms wraps around her waist, under her arms, and he pulls her up to his eye-level in one go. Of course, doing this puts them way closer to each other. Chest-touching-each-other close.

So close Meryl thinks she's going to have an aneurysm.

"There!" he says, smiling. "Now we're both the same height!"

"W-w-w-w-what?!" She bangs her fists on his shoulders, doing absolutely nothing to help the situation. She's thankful that the dark of the room is hiding what is no doubt a vivid blush on her cheeks. "Th-this is ridiculous! Good grief, did you even listen to what i was saying?!"

"I was listening."

His voice is deeper, a tone Meryl knows well to be one he uses when he's serious. A tone that, for a variety of reasons, terrifies her.

He continues. "I always listen when you talk. You've got some pretty important things to say, and I appreciate the amount of concern you have for me. More than you know. But this kind of life, I can't stop living this way. No matter what, I have a mission and I'm going to see it through." His face is closer now. Close enough that she can count the missed cowlicks he has in front of his face. "So, if you don't mind, can you watch over me a little bit longer? I promise I'll make it up to you."

She can't think. She can hardly breathe as his words hit home. Watch over him. Make it up to her.

Her words come out more somber and concerned than she intends. "What are you trying to do in this world, Vash The Stampede."

He chuckles. It's a rare chuckle, a low one. A real one. "Why, I'm only trying to promote love and peace in the world, Miss Derringer Meryl."

"Well, you've certainly got  _one_ of those down." She huffs. "You are going to make it up to me though! With a real date! Not a fake one!"

His confusion only makes her blush harder "This was a real date. Wasn't it?"

"Absolutely not!" She headbutts him, his own head bouncing back from the collision. "Getting ambushed in a restaurant and then hiding in a closet in an abandoned house is not a date! It's a regular Tuesday night when anyone's around you!"

He laughs and pulls her closer, grinning. "So if this isn't a date then does that mean I can't give you a good-night kiss?"

The sound of Meryl smacking him and his resulting scream was loud enough to wake the attention of the nearby scoundrels, who bust into the house within seconds.

Nothing could ever be easy with this guy, Meryl thought, as they barreled their way out of the house and out into the night.

Hopefully their next date would be better than this one.


End file.
